We have come down from Rosh Hashanah, a time apart that brings a certain serenity. Many of us found that our prayers that day were weighted with a heightened poignancy because of all that we are facing.
But now – wham! – we are back in what constitutes our “everyday” world: one fraught with lies, threats and complex stratagems, in addition to overt violence.
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If we prayed on Rosh Hashanah, we should continue to pray now. Those who didn’t pray on Rosh Hashanah, might in any event consider doing so now.
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Israel continues to be engaged in military action on several fronts. In all instances we are battling Islamist forces tied to Iran.
[] We are fighting hard in Gaza – with maneuvers gaining force as we act to take down Hamas. Five divisions are currently engaged in the Gaza Strip, three of which are focused on operations in Gaza City. At last reports we have taken something close to 50% of Gaza City.
[] We are active against terrorism strongholds in Judea & Samaria. This action garners much less attention than the other fronts but is exceedingly important.
[] We are responding with vigor against Houthi terror attacks. Last Wednesday evening, a Houthi-launched drone landed in Eilat, wounding over 20 people, two seriously. One day later we responded:
This was Israel’s strongest attack on the Houthi terrorist regime yet. A total of some 20 aircraft, flying 2,200 km, dropped over 65 munitions on seven targets in the Sana’a area belonging to the security and intelligence apparatus and to the Houthi army .
Netanyahu ordered the airstrikes on the Houthis while making his way to the United Nations. He received continual updates while flying.
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A recent report indicates that Iran is establishing underground missile factories in Yemen, resulting in higher grade missiles being launched against Israel from Yemen in recent months. Additionally, the Houthis are training militias for Oct. 7–style raids into Israel via Jordan.
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/s1q005txhgx
What we see is that Iran is down but still aiming to come back, relying first on its typical ploy of utilizing proxies.
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In addition to all of this we must contend with verbal and diplomatic attacks. Law, justice and common sense have all been thrown out the window as attempts to weaken Israel proliferate.
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Front and center at the moment are outrageous efforts to establish a “Palestinian state,” to be fashioned from the Palestinian Authority. A number of countries have already endorsed this state – most recently at the UN, first by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Portugal, followed a day later by France, Belgium, Luxembourg. There is a great deal more to come.
Prime Minister Netanyahu, in his speech at the UNGA on Friday, addressed this recognition – calling it a reward for terrorism and a mark of shame on those countries that are prepared to do so. The message to terrorists with this effort is that killing Jews garners international support.
“Giving the Palestinians a state one mile from Jerusalem after October 7th is like giving Al-Qaeda a state one mile from New York City after September 11th. This is sheer madness. It’s insane, and we won’t do it…Israel will not allow you to shove a terror state down our throats…
“Western leaders may have buckled under the pressure, but Israel won’t.”
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/415454
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Netanyahu made the important point that he has the backing of 90% of the people of Israel on this issue.
In July 2024, the plenum of the Knesset voted in favor of a declaration co-sponsored by the Likud, Shas, Religious Zionism, Otzma Yehudit, United Torah Judaism, Yisrael Beitenu and New Hope – The United Right parliamentary groups. This was not just a vote by the governing coalition, but by the Knesset, which represents all of the people of Israel.
The resolution, which passed by a vote of 68-9, reads:
“The Knesset of Israel firmly opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state west of the Jordan. The establishment of a Palestinian state in the heart of the Land of Israel would pose an existential danger to the State of Israel and its citizens, perpetuate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and destabilize the region…”
https://main.knesset.gov.il/EN/News/PressReleases/Pages/press18724w.aspx
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When we consider the Palestinian Authority today, we are looking at a terror-supporting entity. The children who attend the schools in the PA-administered areas are educated via the same textbooks and curricula as the children of Gaza, educated under Hamas.
A poll taken by Birzeit University one month after October 7, 2023, indicated that 98 percent felt more proud to be Palestinian, and 68 percent strongly supported the massacres and kidnapping.
Former Palestinian Authority PM Muhammad Shtayyeh described October 7 as “a daring operation, unprecedented in history…an important chapter in the history of the Palestinian struggle.“
https://palwatch.org/page/41507
To this day, the PA practices “pay-for-slay” for those who murder Israelis. The more Israelis a Palestinian Arab has killed, the higher the pay. It is a salary for those in prison or goes to the families of “martyrs” who have died in the course of their terror attacks. Mahmoud Abbas recently claimed that the “pay-for-slay” practices had been terminated, but in fact they have been continued under a new system.
The terrorist being awarded money does not have to be from the Palestinian Authority – such payments go to Hamas terrorists as well. In the year following October 7, the PA announced 661 new terrorist prisoners from Gaza and 23,210 “martyrs”.
https://palwatch.org/page/34924
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But this is not the end of the story. Those endorsing a “Palestinian state” are linking its establishment to an eventual “two-state-solution.” There is, however, a huge problem with this that is being studiously overlooked: The PA is not interested in becoming a Palestinian state that exists in peace next to Israel! Its interest is in eradicating Israel.
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In May 1994, the Palestinian Authority was established as a temporary administrative entity under the umbrella of the PLO, as part of the Oslo Accords. Ultimately the PA acquired administrative control over Gaza (which it lost when overthrown by Hamas in 2007) and to this day portions of Judea & Samaria (Area A, full control, and Area B, civilian control with Israel maintaining security control).
While it has become a “given” in diplomatic circles that the PA would ultimately become a state, this was not specified in the Oslo Accords. Rather, it was stipulated that at the end of five years a final status agreement was to be have been achieved via negotiations.
Then prime minister Yitzhak Rabin indicated to the Knesset that he envisioned something less than a full state and more in line with an autonomy:
“The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six-Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines…
“These are the main changes…which we envision and want in the permanent solution. First and foremost, united Jerusalem, which will include both Ma’ale Adumim and Givat Ze’ev, as the capital of Israel, under Israeli sovereignty…
“…changes…will include the addition of Gush Etzion, Efrat, Beitar and other communities, most of which are in the area east of what was the ‘Green Line,’ prior to the Six Day War” and “the establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria.”
https://www.jns.org/jns/israel/23/7/19/303916/
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It is now more than 30 years since the signing of the Oslo Accords that were supposed to have achieved resolution within five years. There were negotiations off and on; the consistent stumbling block was the PLO. Twice Israel made concrete offers. First to Yasser Arafat, the inveterate terrorist who led negotiations as chair of the PLO.
Material released by Israeli State Archives shows that during negotiations in December 2000, then prime minister Ehud Barak (incredibly!) was prepared to give up Israeli sovereignty over parts of the Old City of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. Five months earlier, at Camp David, writes historian Kenneth Levin, “Barak had already offered the Palestinian Authority control over territories that went far beyond what most Israeli military strategists believed the nation could give up and still retain defensible borders.”
https://www.jns.org/jns/israel/23/7/19/303916/
Arafat refused the offer.
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In 2008, following numerous negotiating sessions with the Arafat protégé Mahmoud Abbas, who had succeeded him, then prime minister Ehud Olmert made a final offer. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called it “amazing”. According to this offer, Israel would cede almost 94% of Judea & Samaria for a Palestinian state; there would be a safe passage tunnel between Judea & Samaria and Gaza, which would be 100% under PA control. Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem would be under Palestinian sovereignty so that they could be the capital of a Palestinian state.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ehud-olmert-s-peace-offer
Abbas refused the offer, in spite of the fact that Olmert begged him to take it.
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There is not the space here to begin to consider the political environment that supported the transition from the level-headed approach of Rabin to the insanity advanced by Barak and then Olmert. I can only speak for the Zionists of Israel, who are very, very grateful that their destructive offers were rejected.
At a later date, Olmert wrote in a Washington Post op-ed: “To this day, I cannot understand why the Palestinian leadership did not accept the far-reaching and unprecedented proposal I offered them… It would be worth exploring the reasons that the Palestinians rejected my offer and preferred, instead, to drag their feet, avoiding real decisions.”
Did he truly not understand? I do. A final deal, however “attractive” Barak and Olmert believed it to be, would have required the PLO to sign off on recognition of the State of Israel and cessation of hostilities. This is something they would not do then and would not do today.
After turning down Barak’s offer, Arafat confided to an Arab Israeli journalist that had he signed off on the deal he would have met the martyrs in heaven. That is, his life would have literally been at risk because acceptance of the deal would have been seen as a betrayal of the Palestinian Arab cause.
I seriously doubt that the leaders of France, Great Britain, Canada, etc. truly comprehend this.
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It is unlikely that these dubious leaders have taken the pains to inform themselves of the contents of the Palestinian National Charter passed by the PLO in 1968.
Article 1. “Palestine is the homeland of the Arab Palestinian people…”
Article 2. “Palestine, with the boundaries it had during the British Mandate, is an indivisible territorial unit…”
Article 8. “The phase in history through which the Palestinian people are now living is that of national struggle for the liberation of Palestine…”
“Article 9. “Armed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine.”
https://www.gov.il/en/pages/the-palestinian-national-charter
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And there is one critical addition to the declared determination of the PLO to take all of Israel via armed struggle that must be noted as well:
In 1974, after the Yom Kippur War, it became apparent to the PLO that Israel could not be taken in one major military operation. Thus they adopted the “Phased Program,” also referred to as the “Strategy of Stages.” The PLO, it was decided, would give an impression (the operative word here) of increased moderation. Negotiations with Israel would be permitted as long as they brought a weakening of Israel. Thus was Oslo rendered possible. And indeed it had the effect of weakening Israel. But the line would be drawn at recognizing Israel and foreswearing all further violence. It was understood within this program that ultimately there would be a time to return to violence.
This program endorsed strategic deception. This is a significant point. Anyone who has followed the behavior of the PLO and its leaders understands that their words are not to be trusted. Ever.
PLO commitments under Oslo have not been honored. Most specifically with regard to combatting terrorism, but in many other regards as well.
Mahmoud Abbas addressed the UNGA remotely this week. He could not be present at the UN because he and his entourage were denied entry into the US. Abbas declared on that occasion that what happened on October 7 “is not the Palestinian way.” A joke, a farce, as he remained silent about the Hamas massacre, avoiding condemnation, until it suited him to give an impression of moderation.
The PA, he declared, is prepared to assume full responsibility for Gaza.
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Please note the key in the lapel of Abbas. This is a symbol of the “right of return” movement, which claims that all of the “refugees” who fled Israel in 1948 – and their descendants through several generations now – have a right to return to their original homes and villages.
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This is an on-going story that I will continue to follow. It involves critical issues of application of sovereignty by Israel to Judea & Samaria.
And we are looking at yet another version of a proposal put forward by the US (Witkoff) for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. There must be at least five or six versions of the alleged details floating about, many of which can cause elevated blood pressure unless one is careful to step back and take a deep breath. In the end, Hamas will not accept this.
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Please, pray with full hearts, my friends, for the courage and strength of our leaders, the safety of our brave fighting troops, and the rescue of our hostages. Pray for all of Am Yisrael.
©Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by independent journalist Arlene Kushner. Permission is granted for it to be reproduced only with proper attribution.
